Your drainpipes:
Replacement time may be sooner than you think
by Roger Faris
I used to believe that cast iron drains would last nearly forever. Lately, I have had to face the fact that many older houses and buildings have pipes which are beginning to expire. This would not be so bad except that I live in an old house and work in an old school building. Both are having drain problems which refuse to go away.
At home the first bad sign was a subtle drip. It was nothing to get excited about, since it would only occur for a few minutes following a toilet flush. The drops landed inches away from a drain in the basement, and I was the only one who seemed to notice the phenomenon. I was tempted to ignore it, but that was not a rational or sanitary option.
A flashlight and small mirror helped me find the crack that was allowing water to escape. This inspection also revealed other cracks, rust stains, signs of settling, and deteriorated wood. A simple patch was able to stop the low-pressure leak, but now I know what I'll face when I attempt a more permanent solution. It will have to be part of a complete overhaul of the old bathroom. The floor and some framing will need repair, and part of a plaster wall will have to be removed. The project will grow.
In the brick building where I work the problems are more pressing. The 1915 structure has a series of three story iron drains inside the walls. For eighty years they have been faithfully carrying water from the gutters down to the sewer system. Tragically, long vertical cracks have been forming, permitting water to enter walls, rooms and hallways. Plastic replacement pipe is easy to lift into place, but the need to open the walls makes the repair process messy and difficult.
Pipe leaks are bad enough, but other drain problems interfere even more with the pursuit of happiness. A clog in the line can cause a flood and be the beginning of an ordeal. They sometimes happen when a toy car, truck, or boat is sent on a perilous journey down the commode. A toilet auger is the tool which can sometimes effect a rescue. Other drain stopping culprits include toothbrushes and lids from bath products. Hair and soap get tangled in these obstructions and eventually bring the water to a halt. In the kitchen, food, grease and soap often combine to make an effective plug. I once helped a neighbor who had sent a pot of leftover beans down the drain. They had swollen in an impressive way, and started to ferment. I've never been back to that house.
Another neighbor recently experienced another type of blockage. Her roofing contractor had been dropping heavy shingle bundles on the new roof deck, and were sliding a few of them against a protruding sewer vent pipe. This caused rust and scale inside the pipe to fall into the drains which serve the sink and bath. A small top snake made it possible to send this compacted material on its way, but it was not an easy job. Bon Ami was used to remove the bright orange stains from the porcelain.
My friend Tom Kayser tells a story about a drain clearing project which he regards as a low point in his ownership of rental property. His efforts with a snake had produced no result, and he was wondering what the new tenants might have lost down the drain. The problem was in an accessible, although gloomy and foreboding, part of the basement, so he decided to install new plastic pipe. The first step was to cut out the old steel material with a powerful reciprocating saw. You might imagine his feelings when the blade cut through both the pipe and the cause of the trouble. It was a large and recently deceased rodent; not a pretty sight. Despite thorough floor scrubbing, the red stains are visible to this day, although they did use Bon Ami.
With that story out of the way, we can move on to the topic of problems with underground drains. We'll see, again, how plumbing woes can go from bad to worse.
The drain system in older houses usually include clay or cement side sewers. The transition from cast iron to ceramic pipe occurs a foot or two from the foundation, and this is a common location of trouble. If the house settles even slightly, the joint comes apart. The old side sewer pipes can't bend, so any type of building or earth movement can cause a break. Tree roots are the other major cause of grief. They find small cracks in the pipe where the segments are joined. The roots grow slowly but steadily and cause remarkable destruction.
Sometimes a clogged or damaged pipe can be cleared, at least for awhile, with a power rooter in the hands of a skilled operator. Often, a real cure requires excavation. This involves serious dangers. Some homeowners or contractors fail to call the utility location hotline before digging (1-800-424-5555). The shovel, pick, or backhoe may sever gas and water supply pipes or underground electrical cables. Another life-threatening hazard is a deep trench which is not braced with plywood and lumber. The joy of using modern plastic piping to solve a drain problem is canceled by being suddenly buried in your yard.
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